skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Designing Boron Nitride Islands in Carbon Materials for Efficient Electrochemical Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide

Journal Article · · Journal of the American Chemical Society
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b02798· OSTI ID:1459647

Heteroatom-doped carbons have drawn increasing research interest as catalysts for various electrochemical reactions due to their unique electronic and surface structures. In particular, co-doping of carbon with boron and nitrogen has been shown to provide significant catalytic activity for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). However, limited experimental work has been done to systematically study these materials, and much remains to be understood about the nature of the active site(s), particularly with regards to the factors underlying the activity enhancements of these boron–carbon–nitrogen (BCN) materials. Herein, we prepare several BCN materials experimentally with a facile and controlled synthesis method, and systematically study their electrochemical performance. We demonstrate the existence of h-BN domains embedded in the graphitic structures of these materials using X-ray spectroscopy. These synthesized structures yield higher activity and selectivity toward the 2e ORR to H2O2 than structures with individual B or N doping. We further employ density functional theory calculations to understand the role of a variety of h-BN domains within the carbon lattice for the ORR and find that the interface between h-BN domains and graphene exhibits unique catalytic behavior that can preferentially drive the production of H2O2. Here, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of h-BN domains in carbon identified as a novel system for the electrochemical production of H2O2.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0008685; AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1459647
Journal Information:
Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 140, Issue 25; ISSN 0002-7863
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 226 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (49)

Thermal conductivity of BN-C nanostructures journal September 2012
Metal-Free Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal May 2015
Energetics and kinetics of vacancies in monolayer graphene boron nitride heterostructures journal December 2014
Metal-Free Carbon Materials for CO 2 Electrochemical Reduction journal September 2017
Disorder and Segregation in B−C−N Graphene-Type Layers and Nanotubes: Tuning the Band Gap journal December 2010
The application of graphene and its composites in oxygen reduction electrocatalysis: a perspective and review of recent progress journal January 2016
Ultrasoft pseudopotentials and projector augmented-wave data sets: application to diatomic molecules journal October 2011
Ab initio study of the interactions between boron and nitrogen dopants in graphene journal August 2012
Atomic layers of hybridized boron nitride and graphene domains journal February 2010
Tunable Electronics in Large-Area Atomic Layers of Boron–Nitrogen–Carbon journal July 2013
Performing Mathematical Operations with Metamaterials journal January 2014
Three-Dimensional Nitrogen and Boron Co-doped Graphene for High-Performance All-Solid-State Supercapacitors journal July 2012
Sustainable Synthesis and Assembly of Biomass-Derived B/N Co-Doped Carbon Nanosheets with Ultrahigh Aspect Ratio for High-Performance Supercapacitors journal November 2015
Superior performance of borocarbonitrides, B x C y N z , as stable, low-cost metal-free electrocatalysts for the hydrogen evolution reaction journal January 2016
Carbon-doped BN nanosheets for metal-free photoredox catalysis journal July 2015
Selective Electrochemical Reduction of Carbon Dioxide to Ethanol on a Boron- and Nitrogen-Co-doped Nanodiamond journal October 2017
Can Boron and Nitrogen Co-doping Improve Oxygen Reduction Reaction Activity of Carbon Nanotubes? journal January 2013
Hydrogel-derived heteroatom-doped porous carbon networks for supercapacitor and electrocatalytic oxygen reduction journal July 2016
BCN Graphene as Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalyst for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction journal March 2012
Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for Oxygen Reduction: Polyaniline-Derived N- and O-Doped Mesoporous Carbons journal May 2013
Effect of boron–nitrogen bonding on oxygen reduction reaction activity of BN Co-doped activated porous carbons journal January 2015
Vertically Aligned BCN Nanotubes as Efficient Metal-Free Electrocatalysts for the Oxygen Reduction Reaction: A Synergetic Effect by Co-Doping with Boron and Nitrogen journal October 2011
In-plane graphene/boron-nitride heterostructures as an efficient metal-free electrocatalyst for the oxygen reduction reaction journal January 2016
Hydrogen Peroxide Synthesis: An Outlook beyond the Anthraquinone Process journal October 2006
Unifying the 2e and 4e Reduction of Oxygen on Metal Surfaces journal September 2012
Enabling direct H2O2 production through rational electrocatalyst design journal November 2013
Structural effects in electrocatalysis journal May 1984
Trends in the Electrochemical Synthesis of H 2 O 2 : Enhancing Activity and Selectivity by Electrocatalytic Site Engineering journal February 2014
Single Atom Hot-Spots at Au–Pd Nanoalloys for Electrocatalytic H 2 O 2 Production journal December 2011
Highly Selective Two-Electron Oxygen Reduction Catalyzed by Mesoporous Nitrogen-Doped Carbon journal September 2014
High-Yield Electrosynthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide from Oxygen Reduction by Hierarchically Porous Carbon journal April 2015
Novel synthesis of N-doped porous carbons from collagen for electrocatalytic production of H2O2 journal September 2012
Mesoporous Nitrogen-Doped Carbon for the Electrocatalytic Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide journal February 2012
Development of a reactor with carbon catalysts for modular-scale, low-cost electrochemical generation of H 2 O 2 journal January 2017
Defective Carbon-Based Materials for the Electrochemical Synthesis of Hydrogen Peroxide journal November 2017
Ultrahigh Surface Area Three-Dimensional Porous Graphitic Carbon from Conjugated Polymeric Molecular Framework journal May 2015
Hierarchical nanostructured conducting polymer hydrogel with high electrochemical activity journal May 2012
Highly Cross-Linked, Self-Doped Polyaniline Exhibiting Unprecedented Hardness journal July 2005
Atomistic Interrogation of B–N Co-dopant Structures and Their Electronic Effects in Graphene journal June 2016
π * and σ * Excitons in C 1 s Absorption of Graphite journal January 1995
Investigating the structure of boron nitride nanotubes by near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy
  • Hemraj-Benny, Tirandai; BanerjeeCurrent address: Department, Sarbajit; Sambasivan, Sharadha
  • Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Vol. 7, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1039/b415423a
journal January 2005
Evidence for the existence of nitrogen-substituted graphite structure by polarization dependence of near-edge x-ray-absorption fine structure journal September 2000
Connecting Dopant Bond Type with Electronic Structure in N-Doped Graphene journal July 2012
High-performance oxygen reduction and evolution carbon catalysis: From mechanistic studies to device integration journal November 2016
Active sites of nitrogen-doped carbon materials for oxygen reduction reaction clarified using model catalysts journal January 2016
pH dependence of catalytic activity for ORR of the non-PGM catalyst derived from heat-treated Fe–phenanthroline journal January 2013
Unifying Kinetic and Thermodynamic Analysis of 2 e and 4 e Reduction of Oxygen on Metal Surfaces journal March 2014
Interplay between nitrogen dopants and native point defects in graphene journal April 2012
Origin of the Overpotential for Oxygen Reduction at a Fuel-Cell Cathode journal November 2004

Cited By (22)

Synergetic effect of pyrrolic-N and doped boron in mesoporous carbon for electrocatalytic ozone production journal January 2020
Defective graphene domains in boron nitride sheets journal July 2019
Active Edge‐Site‐Rich Carbon Nanocatalysts with Enhanced Electron Transfer for Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogen Peroxide Production journal January 2019
Highly selective oxygen reduction to hydrogen peroxide on transition metal single atom coordination journal September 2019
Under-cover stabilization and reactivity of a dense carbon monoxide layer on Pt(111) journal January 2019
Atomic-level tuning of Co–N–C catalyst for high-performance electrochemical H2O2 production journal January 2020
Progress Towards Direct Hydrogen Peroxide Fuel Cells (DHPFCs) as an Energy Storage Concept journal January 2018
Enhancing the production of hydrogen peroxide from electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction by tailoring the electronic states of single-walled carbon nanotubes: a synergistic effect from interior filling and exterior oxidation journal January 2019
Photo-enhanced Zn–air batteries with simultaneous highly efficient in situ H 2 O 2 generation for wastewater treatment journal January 2019
Copolymer‐Derived N/B Co‐Doped Nanocarbons with Controlled Porosity and Highly Active Surface journal October 2019
Hydrogen peroxide synthesis on porous graphitic carbon nitride using water as a hydrogen source journal January 2020
Selective Electrochemical H 2 O 2 Production through Two-Electron Oxygen Electrochemistry journal September 2018
Recent Progress in Precious Metal‐Free Carbon‐Based Materials towards the Oxygen Reduction Reaction: Activity, Stability, and Anti‐Poisoning journal November 2019
Fluorescent Carbon‐ and Oxygen‐Doped Hexagonal Boron Nitride Powders as Printing Ink for Anticounterfeit Applications journal September 2019
Active Edge‐Site‐Rich Carbon Nanocatalysts with Enhanced Electron Transfer for Efficient Electrochemical Hydrogen Peroxide Production journal December 2018
Direct electrosynthesis of pure aqueous H 2 O 2 solutions up to 20% by weight using a solid electrolyte journal October 2019
Electrochemical synthesis of hydrogen peroxide from water and oxygen journal June 2019
Vacancy in Ultrathin 2D Nanomaterials toward Sustainable Energy Application journal November 2019
Tailoring the Electrochemical Production of H 2 O 2 : Strategies for the Rational Design of High‐Performance Electrocatalysts journal September 2019
2D Electrocatalysts for Converting Earth‐Abundant Simple Molecules into Value‐Added Commodity Chemicals: Recent Progress and Perspectives journal October 2019
A COOH-terminated nitrogen-doped carbon aerogel as a bulk electrode for completely selective two-electron oxygen reduction to H 2 O 2 journal January 2019
Hydrogen peroxide electrochemical synthesis on hybrid double-atom (Pd–Cu) doped N vacancy g-C 3 N 4 : a novel design strategy for electrocatalyst screening journal January 2020

Figures / Tables (6)